1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to commercial manufacturing processes, and more particularly to asset reconfiguration management for commercial manufacturing processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Because of the large amounts of customization selections available to consumers, custom built computer products, such as servers, server systems and database platforms, come in a wide variety of configurations. The variety in the configurations is attributed to the ranges and mixtures of hardware, software and instructional features available to consumers. Due to the potential diversity in custom built computer products, a custom built product can be one of a kind.
Cancellations of custom-built orders are common in the computer manufacturing industry. Often, a cancellation occurs in the middle of the manufacturing process. When this transpires, a manufacturer is left with a unique product (or work unit) in a partially manufactured state. (Note that a work unit refers to an incomplete product undergoing manufacturing wherein the work unit may refer to one part of a larger whole, i.e., an individually build-able portion that will later be integrated into the whole.) Ideally, manufacturers prefer to reuse the partially manufactured product or at least the parts that comprise the work unit. This poses a challenge when dealing with a partially-manufactured custom built product that doesn't fit neatly into the basis or make-up of another product or another configuration of a particular product. There are various conventional approaches to this problem, but each comes with its drawbacks.
One approach to this problem involves completely disassembling the partially-manufactured custom built product into its basic components, which are then re-used in other manufacturing lines. This approach, however, can be labor-intensive and time-consuming. Further, there may be various states of disassembly of the partially-manufactured custom built product that may fit neatly into the manufacturing line of another product. Re-use at this intermediate level would avoid wasted labor and/or time. For this reason, the full disassembly of the partially manufactured custom built product could result in significant wasted labor and/or time, and significantly increased potential for errors or damage.
Another approach to this problem involves setting aside the partially-manufactured custom built product and waiting for another order like the original so as to reuse the work unit. This approach, however, is uncertain and can lead to long waits, increased inventory holding costs and reduced storage space due to storage of the partially-completed work unit. Yet another approach to this problem involves selling the partially-manufactured custom built product. This approach is also uncertain and can lead to long waits, reduced storage space due to storage of the partially-completed work unit and eventual loss of invested time and resources because the partially-completed work unit must often be sold for less than it is worth or at least for less than a completed version of the product.
Thus, there is a need to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art and more particularly for a more efficient way to reconfigure cancelled custom-built products that are partially manufactured.